India won the match by 88 runs.
Any battle between India and Pakistan these days doesn’t end with a tinge of drama. The two arch-rivals locked horns in Colombo for the group stage fixture, and the Women in Blue continued their winning run. They comprehensively beat Pakistan by 88 runs to claim their second successive victory in the tournament. Pakistan, however have problems to solve and are winless after two games in the tournament. Playing in her second world cup game, Kranti Goud shone for the Blue.
Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana won the toss and put India in to bat first. The Women in Blue started off on a great note, with both openers getting good starts. However, they lost wickets at regular intervals. Richa Ghosh’s cameo of an unbeaten 35 off just 20 deliveries took them to a competitive total of 247. Harleen Deol was the highest run scorer for India with a composed 46.
The Indian bowling attack, led by Renuka Singh and Kranti Gaud started brilliantly, and did not let Pakistan off the hook. The Blues reduced the Women in Green to 26/3 in no time. Pakistan were 30/3 at the end of the 15-over mark, which was an indication of a very slow start to their innings. But Sidra Amin anchored the innings with a beautiful 81 off 106 deliveries. Though it wasn’t enough for Pakistan, the knock did keep the Indians on their toes.
Jemimah Rodrigues was dismissed on the last delivery of the 35th over. The youngster attempted a sweep, which wasn’t successful and hit her plumb in front. Post the dismissal, India had an option of sending Richa Ghosh, who could have put the foot on the accelerator.
Instead, they went for Sneh Rana. The next 56 deliveries saw just 42 runs coming between Rana and Deepti Sharma. As a result, the Indians were forced to reduce their run-rate and run-scoring became difficult. They might have missed a trick by not promoting Richa Ghosh up the order.
Though the decision did not have any serious consequences, but 20-25 runs short against teams like Australia and England will be a huge thing. Had Ghosh come in earlier, she could have scored at a greater rate, allowing India to add another 30-odd runs to their tally.
The Indian team has a pretty strong batting line-up. But the fact that their skipper hasn’t quite found form in the tournament yet will keep lingering in their minds to some extent. In two matches so far, the Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has scored 40 runs.
In addition to that, she has been dismissed in a similar manner in both games. Against Sri Lanka, she nicked a delivery to the keeper, trying to cut a ball from Inoka Ranaweera. In the game against Pakistan, she chose the leg-side. Harmanpreet tried to flick a delivery which took the edge and flew to the keeper down the leg-side.
India’s batting has enough firepower to take the team to a competitive total. Amanjot Kaur and Deepti Sharma ensured that in the last game. Moreover. the cameo from Richa Ghosh took India close to the 250-run mark against Pakistan. But a player like Harmanpreet being quiet for long is not something that the Indians would like to see.
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For a 22-year-old playing her first match in a World Cup against Pakistan, nerves would be up the roof. But for Kranti Goud, she played like she had nerves of steel. The youngster opened India’s bowling alongside Renuka Singh, and bowled seven overs on the trot.
And it doesn’t end there. She gave way just 20 runs in her quota of 10 overs, and also picked three wickets in the bargain. Kranti Goud bowled impeccable lengths and lines with an economy of just two in her first world cup game. Unfortunately, a couple of catches went down off her bowling. Otherwise Goud would have ended with a five-wicket haul on world cup debut.
What stood out for her was the way he deliveries seamed off the deck after pitching. She troubled the batters by bowling disciplined lines. It is difficult for a batter to pick seam movement as compared to swing. This is because swing can be predicted looking at the seam position, but the seam movement cannot.
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